B!tch Better Have My Money.
As an artist working in the creative industry, I have been asked more times than I'd like to admit to provide my services for free. Whether it's as a choreographer, creative director, performer, model, actor or assistant. For example; I would be approached to choreograph and perform a routine for a company's big party as headline entertainment. With the notion of there being hundreds of people in the audience who are most likely to need performers for another job so it is great for advertising my group and getting my name out there. How many of these offers did I receive and follow through with? Probably a dozen. How many resulted in a pay cheque? Zero. Also, how much did you pay for this big party and you can't fork out a few hundred bucks for a group of women who will take your event from just okay to absolutely fabulous? Piss off mate.
This is a reality check for those who do not understand the artistic/creative industries and a shout out to those artists struggling to follow their dreams.
Regarding performers, (in my opinion) there is a misconception about us in the eyes of a typical nine to fiver or office worker with a degree hanging on their wall. From my encounters with these kind, they tend to look down at us because they went to college and I did not. They assume that my dance or choreography or performance is merely a hobby that I have tried to turn into my career. Little do they know, that I have studied my performance art far longer than they studied business as listed on their piece of paper. The audacity to ask me to provide my highly skilled service for free is an utter insult and if I were to ask them the same in return they would laugh in my face!
It's difficult because artists are very passionate people and have most likely gone through some form of sacrifice to follow our dreams and turn them into reality. This makes the hustle so real that some of us will latch on to any opportunity presented to show our talent and what we are capable of. We are sometimes seen as lesser than, but in reality we are some of the strongest individuals out there because we have gone against the grain and danced to the beat of our own drums.
I think that as artists, we have to stop taking work on for free. Understand your worth and remember how much you have worked to get to where you are. Turn that question around and ask it right back to the suit that thinks he has an upper hand on you. He doesn't. You're the one who has a brain and an imagination that is so priceless it could not be replicated.
